"We've decided to hide the durable grains in a secret room in the study, and retrieve them when we've finished eating them," Grandpa Qin said.
The study is the most important place, and Wang Ma is not allowed to go there on ordinary days, so it is safest to keep these things in the secret room of the study.
"How should we store these vegetables?" Qin's mother asked.
These vegetables not only look fresh, but they also have a very strong aroma. Even without holding them in your hand, you can smell their fresh fragrance.
Grandpa Qin said, "We plan to take out one-third of the eggplant, cucumber, and cowpea to dry, then take out another third of the cucumber and cowpea to pickle, and keep the remaining third to eat fresh."
Qin's mother nodded.
Grandma Qin looked at her daughter-in-law and said, "Pack up ten pounds of each kind of vegetable and fruit and send them to your parents' home. As for the grain, you can send some over occasionally when your parents' home is short of food."
Qin's mother smiled and said, "Thank you, Mom."
Grandma Qin waved her hand, "Why thank me? These are gifts from my two children, they're not mine, and I can't keep them all to myself."
Afterwards, Qin's father and mother moved the grain together into the secret room inside the study. It weighed more than 10,000 jin (5,000 kg), and the middle-aged couple were panting heavily as they carried it.
However, this matter cannot be known to outsiders; they must handle it themselves.
Moving to the back, Qin's mother found a rather peculiar sack because the shape of the contents inside didn't look like grain.
When Qin's mother opened the sack and saw what was inside, her eyes widened in surprise.
Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin came over when they saw what was inside, and they gasped when they saw what was inside, because it was full of meat, chicken, duck, goose and rabbit, and it was all cleaned up.
Grandma Qin picked up a rabbit, brought it to her nose and smelled it. "This rabbit is still fresh. We need to take it down quickly, marinate it, dry it, and preserve it."
"Twelve chickens, twelve ducks, twelve geese, and twelve rabbits, plus twelve large fish, each weighing at least ten pounds!" Mother Qin exclaimed in surprise. Even someone like her had never seen so many good things at once.
"Why are there twelve of them? Are they planning to make us eat one every month?" Grandma Qin was a little surprised. She didn't know where Wen Xi and Qin Mi got such great ability to bring back so many good things. "Old man, go and buy some seasonings. Let's marinate all these things and save them to eat slowly. This is Qin Mi and Liangliang's kindness, so don't give it to anyone else."
Grandpa Qin nodded, "I'll go now, don't rush, take your time packing."
"Take one of each and send them back to your parents' home along with the vegetables. Send them now, so you can focus on dealing with these things when you get back." Grandma Qin packed one of each of the chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, and fish for Qin's mother. "Liangliang is such a good girl. Our Qin Mi is such a lucky man to have found such a wonderful wife."
If it were anyone else, they would keep such good things to themselves, instead of sharing them with these old folks like Liangliang did.
"Yes, Liangliang is a really good girl. Qin Mi never thought of these things. These things are obviously brought back by Liangliang. Liangliang is worried that we won't be able to buy food and vegetables at home!"
Qin's mother happily packed things up, packing ten pounds of each type of vegetable and fruit, plus chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, and fish. After packing, it weighed one or two hundred pounds, so Qin's father had to see her off.
All we had to do was help her put her things on the rickshaw. Once we got to her parents' house, she could ask someone to help her carry them. After seeing his mother off in the rickshaw, Mr. Qin returned. "Mom, what's next?"
"Give each family five eggplants, five loofahs, five carrots, five zucchini, ten onions, and a bunch of chives. I don't know who to give them to. See if you can send some to the families you're close to. You can decide for yourselves."
Grandma Qin said, "Could you help me carry the eggplants downstairs first? Eggplants can't be pickled, but they can be dried. I'll start by drying the eggplants."
"Okay." Qin's father left some to give away and took the rest of the big black eggplants to the courtyard downstairs.
It's only May, and the weather isn't particularly hot yet. Vegetables should last for a few days, but probably no more than a week. So Grandma Qin took about ten large eggplants and put them aside to eat in the next few days.
Grandma Qin carefully washed the eggplants, drained them, removed the ends, and cut them into long strips. She cut several hundred pounds of eggplants, which made her arms ache, but she was happy!
Qin Mi and Wen Xi were worried that they wouldn't have anything to eat at home, so they brought them so many good things.
When Grandpa Qin returned with the seasonings, Grandma Qin asked him to take the chopped eggplants to the roof of the small villa to dry, because the roof was clean and the eggplants could be laid directly on the cement ground to dry.
Qin's father packed the vegetables and carried them downstairs. "Mom, I'll deliver them to everyone now."
"Hurry back and help with the work, otherwise we won't be able to finish all this in one day," Grandma Qin reminded him, worried that he would go to other people's houses and chat, which would waste too much time.
Vegetables can be left to sit for a while before processing, but meat will spoil if left out. So Grandma Qin and Grandpa Qin took the chickens, ducks, and geese down, cleaned them, rubbed them with salt, and put them in a large vat. Once they were marinated, they could be hung on the roof to dry.
Grandma Qin kept one goose, planning to make fresh braised goose today, and marinated the rest.
After processing the meat, Grandma Qin started preparing dried vegetables: cucumbers, cowpeas, and carrots. She dried carrot shreds so they could be used directly in a cold salad later.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkins, and winter melons—I cut about three or four hundred pounds of each, because drying them would allow them to be stored for a longer time.
The family of four spent most of the day processing the vegetables, keeping about a week's worth of each type. The rest were either dried or pickled.
As for fruit, it's kept for family consumption. We only take a little fruit when we need to visit other people's homes.
Wenxi and Qin Mi didn't arrive at the small fishing village until the afternoon. A man had been lingering by the roadside. When he saw a car coming, he hurriedly came up to greet it and was overjoyed to see that it was Qin Mi.
"How much seafood do you have?" Qin Mi asked bluntly.
"I collected about three thousand catties of dried seafood from the villagers, and about one thousand catties of fresh seafood!" the man said. "Then you wait here for me, I will arrange for someone to deliver the seafood over."
Qin Mi nodded.
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